The Syntax of Things: A (Re)Examination of Cummings’s Anti-intellectual Bias

Jean Garrigue’s statement that “every line a poet writes is autobiographical” may initially cause some confusion, since poetry often lacks objectivity and clarity—two seemingly necessary qualities for autobiography; but many prose autobiographies have proven that neither characteristic is necessary to meet the definition for autobiography. Often how an author writes indicates much about what that writer wants to express; thus the choice of poetry for autobiography reveals something about that...